Ozark Christian Living
Family Life & Homemaker's Guide
Organize Kitchen & Laundry
She looketh well to the ways of her
household and eateth not the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:27
Life gets busy so it is easy to end up with a cluttered home and a cluttered mind. But...1 step at a time...1 day at a time...1 room at a time we can win the war against clutter without feeling overwhelmed in the process. We don't normally have an abundance of time to tackle big projects. Therefore, we are breaking this down to little tasks that can be accomplished each day. If you don't get through this list during the week, do not be discouraged. Start where you left off the next time you are concentrating on the Kitchen and Laundry room.
Monday: Identifying items that belong in your Kitchen and Laundry room and remove items that don't belong in these rooms at all.
- Take a few minutes to think about how your family functions in the kitchen and Laundry room. This will help you to start thinking about where to best place things as we work through the kitchen this week.
- You will need 3 bags or containers for this task.
- One: "give away" for good items that have not been used in the last year. There may be items that you had forgotten you even had. If you didn't know you had them, would you miss them when they are gone?
- Two: "throw away" for items that are expired, damaged, not of functional use.
- Three: "keep but not in this room". Don't get sidetracked by thinking about what room these items should go in or even taking the time to decide that at this point. The task today is to just get these items out of the kitchen and laundry room. Ask yourself... do these related to the function of this room? For example: a frequently played board game, conveniently stored on top of the refrigerator does not really apply to the function of a refrigerator or the purpose of the kitchen to prepare meals.
Tuesday: Organize spices, canned goods, and dry goods.
- Organize spices in alphabetical order. Consolidate the duplicates and throw away the expired. This will make the spice you are looking for easier to find.
- Eliminate duplicates of open flour, sugar, cereals etc... and throw away the expired. Consolidate into stackable containers or canisters with lids that seal good. They will stay fresher longer than leaving them in the bag.
- Organize can goods by type, placing the newest by type in back working forward. Remember when replenishing to put them in the proper order.
- Silverware and utensil drawers. Organize in trays by type.
- Junk or miscellaneous drawer. Small baskets are handy here for grouping cell phone cords, batteries, pens and pencils, and other like items in separate trays instead of just dumped in the drawer.
- Towels and dish cloths. Folded and separated by type. For example, drying towels on the right, hand towels on the left and dish cloths in the front (we have long drawers) or in a separate drawer. Remember when replacing after laundering to put the fresh ones on the bottom for a constant rotation.
- If you have more dishes than shelves, assess what is used most frequently and considering storing those dishes that are only used for special occasions and giving away dishes that are not used at all.
- Plastic containers: Keep the good containers with good lids. Throw away the damaged containers or lids, or mismatched containers and lids. Store lids vertically by shape, size and type for easy access. A plastic rack similar to a plate rack would work, or just using a large container. Stack the containers by shape, size, and type.
- Organize shelves grouped by function. For example, laundry detergent, fabric softener, bleaches (chlorine and color safe) together. Ironing supplies grouped together. Cleaning supplies, cleaning cloths. Baskets are a cute idea for storing some of these items.
Home Remedies
Read about the simple home remedies our family and friends use for pampering ourselves a-little.